A tehsildar (Urdu: تحصیلدار, Hindi: तहसीलदार) is a revenue administrative officer in Pakistan and India in charge of obtaining taxation from a tehsil. The term is of imperial Mughal origin made of "tahsil", an Islamic administrative derived from Arabic, meaning "revenue generating; collection" and "dar", Persian for "holder of a position", together meaning tax collector. The role of tehsildar continued during the period of British Rule and was subsequently used by Pakistan and India following their independence from the British. The deputy of a tehsildar is known as a naib tehsildar.
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During British rule the tehsildar was a stipendiary officer of the government to raise revenue, in the "History of the Colonies of the British Empire: From the Official Records", Robert Montgomery Martin described local government as follows :[1]
In Pakistan a Tehsildar is responsible for obtaining revenue from a Tehsil, or Taluka (as called in Sindh), which is then used by the district government. A Tehsil is a sub-division of a District and will have multiple smaller administrative units called 'Mouza' or 'Deh'. Typically a district will contain multiple Tehsils.
He is a gazetted officer (class II), a Tehsildar enjoys a fair amount of authority and respect, especially in the rural areas and is also tasked to forecast the expected seasonal crop yields and classify and map the landuse in the respective Tehsil.
A Tehsildar is also called a 'Mukhtiarkar' in Sindh.
In India an official position is existing with this same title. In modern India a State is divided into various districts. The district's senior most civil servant is the District Collector, who could be a promoted officer from the state cadre or most likely an IAS officer. These districts are further sub divided into Revenue Sub Divisions, under an officer designated as Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO). These sub divisions are divided into various Tehsils or Taluks. The Teshils and Taluks are under an officer designated as Tehsildar. The Tehsildar appointment is a formally announced through the official gazette of the state government. The Tehsils/Taluks are further divided into Villages, under a Village officer. This hierarchy is mainly used for undertaking the regular administrative activities, including identification and collection of revenue (from land) etc. A separate hierarchy exists for the law enforcement in a district.